As a record producer and executive, Shawn Amos has juggled history and pop culture across a wide range of CD, DVD and box set releases. At Shout! Factory, where he sits as Vice President of A&R, Shawn has directed projects for artists ranging from William Shatner to Herb Alpert and from Solomon Burke to Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs. Shawn also recently co-produced a remake of the Marvin Gaye classic What’s Going On for New Orleans’ with legendary Dirty Dozen Brass Band.

As a musician and lyricist, Shawn has proven to be an astute social critic, an activist, and a poet. All those roles were brought to bear on Thank You Shir-lee May [A Love Story], his third and most personal album. Thank You Shirl-ee May is a tribute to and exploration of the life of his late mother, singer Shirlee Ellis Amos (known professionally as Shirl-ee May). His song “Vicious Circle” was been covered by Solomon Burke for his Grammy-nominated album, Nashville and his own single “Burned” (featuring Matthew Sweet) which was released in February 2006.

Prior to joining Shout! Factory, Shawn worked as an A&R executive at Rhino Records where he produced or co-produced already classic African American historic compilations, including the GRAMMY®-nominated Rhapsodies in Black: Music And Words From The Harlem Renaissance; Say It Loud: A Celebration of Black Music in America; and Q: The Musical Autobiography of Quincy Jones.